Against Our Nature
by MoonNRoses
Summary: Camille Belcourt is a vampire. When she meets Gabriel Eaton, she's shaken more than she has ever been as a human or vampire. Her nature is to hate the werewolf, but how can she hold out against him? And just what will it mean for the both of them?
1. Prologue

_**Disclaimer: **__Regrettably, I do not own, nor will I ever own, the Infernal Devices, the Mortal Instruments or any of Cassandra Clare's wonderful characters. However, I completely own Gabriel and his family and any characters not recognizable in her series._

_**A/N: **__Since reading CA, I have been obsessed with Camille and her plight. I hope that you like this story as much as I need to write it. :)_

**Prologue**

London, February 18, 1800

Lady Camille Belcourt walked the dark streets of London alone. Of course, it wasn't proper for a woman, Lady or not, to walk the streets alone anytime after dark. But the dark is what suited her best. Her silk skirts rustled and her heeled boots echoed across the empty storefronts as she walked. Someone, rather recently, had been by on stilts to light the gas lanterns on the street corners. But Camille kept to the shadows as much as possible. Soon, she would hunt. Camille wasn't a normal woman and hadn't been for quite some time. Her superior hearing picked up on the fact that she had no heartbeat. There was no blood rushing through her ears or adrenaline that would make her senses overly sharp. Her senses were already extra sharp. Her breath was nonexistent. She did not fear the cold since she was always cold. Her eyes could see for more than any mundane humans'.

She was vampire. Over the sound of her heavy sapphire earrings swinging in her ears, she heard the unsteady gait of footsteps following behind her. A sly smile crossed her full lips. She was ready and prepared for a fight. It just goes to show that you should be careful what you wish for. In the next moment, a scream broke through the night. A panicked scream from a young girl. If Camille had a heart that beat, she knew it would be racing. She blocked out the memories from a small French village long ago and ran towards the sound. Because she was vampire, her speed was as fast as a horse and sometimes, even faster. The storefronts whirled past her in a blur and her shoes barely even touched the ground as she turned a corner of an alley.

There she saw four big brutes advancing on a young girl. The girl may have been somewhere around ten and four. She was tall, slender, and had long golden brown hair that was currently flipped over her shoulder in a long braid. She had on a dark green dress of modest material and a very frightened expression on her face. Her green eyes were wide with her fear and her face was pale. Camille could hear the girl's racing heartbeat from across the alley as well as the hearts of those that stalked her.

They were big, dirty and drunk. And from the smell of their excitement, they were going to kill and do worse to this poor girl. Camille usually didn't think much of mundanes, the name given to the humans who could not see the Shadow World of which she was a part. But this girl's plight resonated within her memories and she would not allow this atrocity to happen again. "Excuse me," Camille said in a beautifully accented voice with a French flair. The four men stopped, stunned, and turned to look at her. She caught the wide eyed surprise of the young girl behind them. "I seem to have lost my way."

The brute nearest to the girl walked towards Camille. Of course, he was the biggest and that suited Camille just fine. He was ugly with brittle yellow teeth and muscle long ago turned to flab hanging over the waist of his breeches. His shirt was dirty with grease, dirt and sweat under a foul smelling jacket and he smelled like he hadn't had a bath in ages. "Well, looky here, lads," he drawled. "A real French lady has graced our presence, she has." The men all laughed and turned to sidle up to her.

She could still smell the fear from the girl in the back but thankfully, at the moment, all the attention was centered on Camille. She cocked her hip and put a slight hand on her blue silk covered dress. A sultry smile crossed her face. "And do I have four fine gentlemen here?" she asked.

"We're nothing like those dandies you're used to," said the brute.

Her smile, if possible, got wider. "That is _excellent_ news."

The brute finally reached her and wrapped a beefy paw around her upper arm. She felt a small pang of regret of having his nasty paw on her black velvet jacket. "You're so cold," the brute muttered as he looked at her. "Maybe we can warm you up a bit."

"I was hoping for that, actually," she said with a dangerous smile. Two needle thin teeth suddenly appeared by her incisors. "I was hoping for that a lot." She watched as his eyes went wide in confusion and before he could open his mouth further to ask, she had pushed him against the wall with her hand wrapped around his throat. "Anything to get the blood pumping," she purred.

The other guys screamed in terror and ran. Camille didn't even spare them a second thought as the brute moved under hand. His beefy paws tore at her sleeve but he could not escape her. Her hold on him was like steel. She tightened her grip on his throat and watched in fascination as the blood in this head turned him purple. She could smell it, under the sweat and musky scent of him and hunger gnawed at her. But she could also smell the disease and just as easily it turned the hunger off. "If I ever catch you or your friends tormenting anyone in an alley again, I will drain you within an inch of your life and let you die in the garbage you so eagerly sleep in. Do you understand?" With his eyes bulging under his dirty hair, she felt him nod against her hand. She then threw him towards the mouth of the valley so hard that he tripped and fell over his feet. She could smell the fear and the urine. "You disgust me," she told him as she turned her back on him to look at the girl.

The girl stood staring, with her back to the wall and a pale hand raised against her mouth. Camille could see the girl's pulse beating rapidly in her neck and felt the hunger claw at her once again. Then the girl jerked and Camille heard heavy footsteps running into the alley. Her vampire teeth shot out as she turned in a blur to hit the brute behind her. She was surprised as she felt the displacement of air as the man jumped over her head.

She whirled back around to see not the brute from before, but a tall man in his late twenties perhaps. He had golden brown hair, broad shoulders and was dressed in simple black trousers, shirt and jacket. She inhaled the scent of him and immediately was poised for attack. This was no ordinary man.

"Evie!" the man called in a panic. His voice was deep and raspy. Some part of Camille that longed to feel like a normal woman again responded to the voice and it sent shivers down her spine. She shoved the feeling down and took in the situation at hand. The girl ran to the man and wrapped her arms around him. But the man turned with the girl behind him and glared at Camille with glittering green eyes. They were as hard and as sharp as emeralds.

"You will pay, vampire," the man uttered and as he did so, she saw his body shiver. "You will pay for trying to feed on my sister."

Camille rolled her eyes. And the young girl, Evie she was called, yelled for him to stop as he took a step towards Camille. "She saved me!" Evie told him.

That stopped him in his tracks and he turned around to stare at her. "She was about to attack you. Didn't I tell you there were monsters out after dark?" he barked at her.

"Gabriel," the girl said in a patient tone. "That woman just scared off four monsters. Four _ordinary _human beings. If it wasn't for her, I could be dead or worse." Camille had to give the girl some credit as she scolded her brother.

"She's not a woman, Evie," he told her in an exasperated tone.

"I'm not stupid, Gabriel," the girl replied. "I know she is like you."

At this, Camille chuckled which brought their attention back to her. "My dear child," Camille said in a low and husky voice, "I am _nothing _like this _dog._"

"But you saved me," the girl said in a soft voice.

"That is true. Do see that you are not out after dark again, little one. Or I may not feel as inclined to help your situation in the future." To be honest, she was stung by Gabriel calling her a monster. She did not see herself as so, but to have someone else so callously disregard her efforts and then to insult her was beneath her. She did not have time for this nor time to explain herself to a werewolf.

She turned on her heal to leave and was surprised to hear the girl say, "Wait." It made her pause long enough for the girl and her brother to come around and stand in front of her. "Truly, I don't want to seem ungrateful. Thank you."

The werewolf looked like he would rather swallow tar than say his next works. "It seems as if I am in your debt."

Camille's eyebrows rose. It seems as if the dog could surprise her twice in one evening. "Just make sure you keep a better eye on your sister so that the monsters aren't... tempted." Camille picked up her skirt to walk around them and was again blocked by the werewolf.

"I repay my debts," he said in a soft tone that hinted at an iron will. Camille had to tilt her head back to look him in the eyes. When she had a heartbeat, his stare would have caused it to miss a beat. Just as his voice caused shivers of anticipation to race down her spine. For the first time in over a century, she felt unsettled.

"Then kindly get out of my way before I make you," she told him in a soft voice edged in cold steel of her own.

He moved a step out of her way and as she passed, he wrapped a hand around the lower arm of her dress. She could feel the heat of him through the material and all the way down to her toes. She felt the blood pulse in his hand and heard the echo of his heartbeat. "We _will _meet again." His voice was a promising threat.

Camille shook him off and walked around the corner. When she was sure she was far enough of away, that his werewolf ears would not hear, she raised her skirts and ran until the darkness of the night swallowed her whole.

/*/*/

_**A/N:**__ Please let be kind and leave a review. _


	2. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: **__Regrettably, I do not own, nor will I ever own, the Infernal Devices, the Mortal Instruments or any of Cassandra Clare's wonderful characters. However, I completely own Gabriel and his family and any characters not recognizable in her series._

_**A/N: **__Thank you to all of the reviews and readers who have put me as a favorite author, have put the story on their favorites and alerts. I can't tell you how much it means to an author's confidence._

_1 Month Later_

Spring had come which meant the weather was still dreary and cold but the Londoners had a new spring in their step. It definitely kept the blood flowing as well as kept the city dwellers out at night. Which meant that Camille could avoid the other side of town and hopefully never see the werewolf again.

It didn't stop him from being in her thoughts. She found herself many times looking for him while she was out hunting, though she couldn't say why. Well, maybe that wasn't true. She could say why but she would rather not. Camille also knew he would disapprove of her feeding on humans. But she didn't kill them and she didn't thrall them. As a matter of fact, most could pass her on the street and wouldn't remember her. She did have those willing to become one of her human subjugates, but she wasn't one to delve deeply into that vampiric practice. Humans were useful as servants and she did have a few to keep up appearances. However, she had taken to shunning their company as of late. "Why so forlorn, Lady Camille?" asked a voice in her ear.

Camille pasted a charming smile on her full lips before turning to regard the owner of the voice. "Just thinking about a particular vintage I had the other evening, Alexei." Lying was a lot more convincing when you had no heartbeat. 

Alexei de Quincey, one of London's most powerful vampires returned her smile and took her slender hand in his. "Pray tell," he said with hungry eyes as his cool lips kissed the back of her hand.

"Just a young girl I happened across in an alley. I'm thinking of making her a subjugate," she replied.

"And have you come to a decision?" he asked.

"Not quite yet. I am not sure the little one is worthy, but we shall see. Tell me, Alexei," she said as she pulled out a fan. "What do you think of the club?" She desperately wanted to change the subject.

He took his time in answering so that they could both study the room. It was filled with vampires, fairies, some warlocks and mundanes. It was the grand opening of the Pandemonium Club, a new establishment for Downworlders and one that was open to mundanes. The mundanes could mingle with the supernatural and in turn, lose money at the many gambling tables. "I like the idea of the club. There is, however, one draw back," he said in a voice that grew colder with each word.

"And that would be?" Lady Belcourt asked.

De Quincey's smile turned deadly and his eyes narrowed onto some new patrons. "The club is open to the Moon's Children as well." His fingers tightened on her own, and if it wasn't for the strength in Camille's fragile looking hand, they would have been ground to powder. She squeezed back in warning and looked across the dimly lit club. She had no trouble seeing across the dark tavern. Camille took a moment to thank whatever heavenly power there was that she had no breath and no heartbeat. For surely her breath would have been stolen and her heart would have skipped a beat at the sight of Gabriel among the pack of men walking in through the door. The group that entered were all a bit rough around the edges except for Gabriel. They were rangy with unshaven jawlines, unkempt with long hair not properly trimmed and shirts without ties or not tucked in their trousers and a predatory gleam in their eyes. Gabriel, on the other hand, looked dashing in a proper gentleman's suit. He held a hat in one gloved hand and the other rested in his pocket. He was cleanshaven and his hair was combed in style. The only thing that marked him a part of his group was the same predatory gleam in his emerald eyes.

Several pale faced vampires stood up quickly from the gambling tables. The werewolves all tensed for an attack. Suddenly, in an explosion of black fire, the Dark Sisters appeared near the entrance. "There will be no feuds here," they said in unison.

"Typical," Alexei murmured bringing her attention away from the spectacle. "Why the warlocks will continue to try and bridge the gap between vampire and dog I will never know."

"Be that as it may, dear Alexei, it would not be wise to put ourselves on the wrong side of the Dark Sisters," Camille told him softly. She didn't detect a waver in her speech but was still too afraid to speak any louder.

He patted her hand affectionately and nodded his head. "Wise counsel, my dear. Wide counsel indeed. Those two are up to something and if I want to find out what, I'll have to be on my best behavior." Camille restrained herself from rolling her was sure Alexei would muscle his way into whatever conspiracy there was. He didn't become one of he most powerful vampires in Britain without a lethal dose of charm. "Well, I should go and make introductions. Want to come along?" he asked with his voice but commanded with his squeeze on her hand.

Camille nodded but did not trust herself to speak as they made their way across the club. The vampires had sat back down but were watching the wolves warily. A tall muscular man was talking with the Sisters. He had long gray hair tied back with a leather thong and intelligent gray eyes. Next to Gabriel, he was the most kept man in the lycanthrope group. He had a gray shadow of a beard and wore simple black pants, a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up his forearms and authority like a crown. He must have been their pack leader.

"Thank you for your invitation, Mrs. Dark," he was saying in a deep voice as Camile and Alexei walked to the group. "But I am afraid we will not be staying long." The man tensed as the couple stood behind the Dark Sisters. Camille felt Gabriel's eyes on her and it was unbelievably tempting to meet his eyes in return. She slightly shook her head so that hopefully he would be able to interpret the motion so that he wouldn't mention the encounter from the month before. She could pick out his unique smell from the wildness of his pack and fought the temptation to revel in it.

"That would be a pity, Aidan," muttered one of the Dark Sisters. Camille could never keep them straight and she didn't really want to. There was something slimy about the two of them that kept her from really wanting to get to know them. "This club is of course welcome to all."

She kept her eyes on Aidan as his roamed over her. There was no censure in his eyes but she could detect a weariness in his stance and demeanor. The others in his pack however were restless. For all the authority Aidan seemed to possess, she doubted he would be able to control the whole pack. "Again, thank you," he said in a deep voice with a tone of regret. "But I doubt all of your patrons would be as welcoming."

"Surely, you don't mean Lady Belcourt or myself?" Alexei asked in a smooth and charming voice.

Aidan's shrewd eyes narrowed and Camille thought it was wise of him. Alexei was charming and as deadly as a snake. "Those like you, de Quincey," the leader of the lycanthropes said in a hard voice.

"So you have heard of me? It is only natural that the two of us should know of each other. How else would we lead our people?" Alexei said in a voice that bordered on jovial.

When Aidan smiled, the wise gray eyes seemed to sharpen like steel blades. "Oh, aye, I've heard of you, de Quincey. Your reputation proceeds you."

Alexei smiled but there seemed to be tension humming along beneath the smile. "And how about the reputation of our beautiful Lady Belcourt?"

_Dear me,_ Camille thought. _He's _literally _throwing me to the wolves._ She pasted a charming smile on her cold lips. Aidan inclined his head in a sign of respect and said, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Belcourt. The legend of your beauty does not do you justice."

Her smile warmed and she could not stop her eyes from meeting Gabriel's slightly amused gaze for a fraction of a second before glancing back at the pack leader. "Thank you, Master Aidan for your kind words. If you would excuse my departure, but I must take my leave." She turned towards de Quincey and offered her hand. "Darling, it has been a pleasure. I shall see you again soon?"

"Very soon," Alexei murmured as his lips hovered over her fingers.

She smiled and then nodded towards the Sisters. "Until we meet again, Sisters." Then she turned back towards the entrance. "Gentlemen," she greeted the pack expecting them to part the way for her.

All of them moved except for once exceptionally big brute right before the door. She could smell his excitement at the thought of tearing her to shreds. "Pardon me?" she asked.

She could smell the blood of a rabbit on his breath as he stared down at her. "Manners, Hensley," a voice called from right behind her. She felt a wall of heat behind her and knew that it was Gabriel.

"She is vampire, Gabe," the brute, Hensley, said in a guttral voice. It sounded more like a growl with vowels rather than speech.

"She is a Lady and wishes to be on her way. She will pass in safety," Gabriel said and this time, there was the steel of authority in his voice.

Hensley shook with anger but finally stepped out of her way. Once she was safely through the entrance she turned to face Gabriel. "Thank you," she told him.

His smile was quick and wolfish with deep grooves in his cheeks that must have been dimples when he was young. It burned onto her memory in that moment and she knew that it would last for as long as she lived. "My pleasure, Lady," his said softly in a voice that made shivers race along her cold skin.

When the door shut, she could still hear Aidan introducing Gabriel Eaton as his second in command. Calmly, she walked away and wondered just what was going on in her head and her body. What a dangerous game her body was playing.

*/*/*

Lady Camille Belcourt, Gabriel thought to himself. The name certainly suited the cool beauty. She had not been far from his thoughts since the night a month ago when she had saved his little sister from being attacked. Even if he had wanted to forget her, he wouldn't have been able to since Evie had to tell him the story at least a hundred times. Once he got over the shock that the beautiful little vampire had saved his sister, he had blistered Evie's ears for leaving her friends' house without waiting for him. She complained about his tardiness which he did accept blame for. And he was right that he was in the debt of the vampire of saving the one person who was nearest and dearest to his heart since their parents' deaths years before.

He wondered just how close she was to de Quincey. There was a menacing quality about him and Gabriel would admit that it was amplified by the fact that Aidan had told him of de Quincey's dirty deeds of the past. It seemed as if the vampire clan leader enjoyed torture of others, no matter their race. He was known for torturing mundanes, werewolves, faeries and there were even rumors of him torturing other vampires. Either the Lady Belcourt was very naive or she was of the same mold as de Quincey.

Neither choice spoke very highly of Lady Belcourt but that would not yank the roots of her from his mind, he was sure. Gabriel could not reconcile the picture of her tormenting poor souls and the lady vampire that saved his sister. But neither did he think her naive. There was a cold intelligence in her pale green eyes and he didn't believe that she could make herself naive in the least.

Maybe she was caught up in the fact that she had to obey her master's orders. He looked again at Alexei de Quincey. He was certainly dangerous enough to make others fear him. But Gabriel remembered how Camille had basically purred the endearment "Darling" at Alexei. He was honest enough with himself to note that he felt jealous of her being so close to the vampire. He knew it was ridiculous. He was werewolf and she was vampire.

And yet, his concious spoke to him. Something inside him stirred when she was near. He shook the feeling off as Aidan made his final departing remark and the pack left the Pandemonium Club. Gabriel felt the dark gaze of both the Sisters and de Quincey on them as they left and filed onto the street. "What a strange place," Aidan mumured as they lightly made their way down the street.

"I did not like it," Joseph Culpepper announced from behind.

"Nor did I," Aidan murmured. "And what did you think, Gabriel?"

The question did not surprise Gabriel. This was how Aidan led. He got the opinions of those around him and formed the decisions of what the pack was to do from those opinions. It was a wise way to lead for the most part. Gabriel was glad to follow his direction most of the time. "It was certainly interesting," Gabriel finally answered after thinking on it.

"And what did you think of de Quincey?" Aidan asked.

"He is dangerous," Gabriel murmured. The thought sent a foreboding chill throughout his body.

He felt the murmuring assent of the pack behind him. There were many, he knew, that wanted to tear the vampire apart. Apparently, the vampire had been tormenting the families of the werewolves and werewolves themselves for years. Aidan wanted to put a stop to it, but Gabriel didn't think a diplomatic approach would work. And Aidan agreed not to get the Shadowhunters involved. The Shadowhunters did not pretend to care about the fate of werewolves.

Gabriel had been a werewolf for only a few years and in a round about way, he could blame de Quincey. A group of vampires under de Quincey's orders had captured Hensley, his brother and his family. They had tortured the two werewolves and the mundane family they had. Hensley finally escaped after months of being tortured on a night very close to the full moon.

That night, Gabriel had been walking home from Darla Jacobson's home. He had been courting her and thought that soon he would ask her father for her hand in marriage. Then this black hulk of a wolf came across him. When he woke in the morning, he was bleeding, in extreme pain and being carried by a mountain of a man with brusies and blood across his face. He passed out again almost immediately. Aidan was there when he woke up again and explained everything to him. Two nights later, under the full moon, Gabriel had changed forever.

Hensley, in mourning of what he had done, had pledged his life to Gabriel. Even though Gabriel understood what it was that caused Hensely to maul him, he knew he could never bring sweet Darla into this life. So he let her go. Last he heard, she had married and moved with another merchant in town to a country village. He hoped she was happy.

Now he wondered, had Camille been apart of the torture that Hensley endured? Surely not. If so, she would have recognized him. And Gabriel had caught the slight shake of her head when he had stared at her. She didn't want him to mention their meeting before, not that he would have. It did take him by surprise seeing her there in the Pandemonium Club. Maybe she caught that surprise and thought he might speak of their encounter. Was she protecting him from de Quincey or was she too embarassed to admit that she knew a werewolf?

It was probably the latter he thought as he tried to shrug of his strange reaction to her. She had looked as lovely as a new spring morning in her pale green dress that had matched her eyes so well. Her lovely blond curls had been swept up in a complicated knot on top of her head and her pale flesh glistened in the dim candlelight of the club. He felt his blood speed up at just the thought of her. How easy he could see his hands spanning her tiny waist.

He rolled his shoulders as they walked and looked around. Was she still milling about? It did good for him to think of her draining some poor slob. It kept things in perspective. She was vampire. He was werewolf. But why could he not stop thinking about her?

*/*/*

_**A/N:**__ Hello readers! I have not forgotten this story. I've been dealing with some pretty heavy family issues and couldn't wrap my head around the story. But now I'm back and eager to continue this story. Please leave a review and let me know what you think. Cheers!_


	3. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer: **__Regrettably, I do not own, nor will I ever own, the Infernal Devices, the Mortal Instruments or any of Cassandra Clare's wonderful characters. However, I completely own Gabriel and his family and any characters not recognizable in her series._

**Chapter Two**

Gabriel was enjoying the cool night air as he and Hensley walked about London although he did not enjoy the circumstances of them being out late. Joseph Culpepper, a young man in their pack who had been with them a week before at the Pandemonium Club, was now missing. Each night, one of the pack had been going to the Club to see if they could make inquiries into the missing pack members that had vanished a few weeks ago. Last night, Joseph did not return.

Gabriel thought of the young man. He couldn't have been more than twenty-two with sandy blond hair, serious blue eyes, and a face that was still youthful enough for him to pass for sixteen. However, his eyes held an age in them that traveled years further than his twenty-two. Being a werewolf could cause you to age mentally from all the things you see. The Change itself, even if it is quite routine, could age a man years in an instant. Young Joseph had been a werewolf for almost half his life and had seen many, many things.

He was a quiet young man and very responsible for one his age. To hear Aidan talk of the boy one would think that Joseph was the pack leader's son. And in many ways, Gabriel reflected, Joseph was. His young wife, Ruth and their two year old child, Samuel, were currently locked up safe and sound in Gabriel's brownstone near Highland Park with a heavy guard. Evie, Gabriel's little sister, had not been too happy about the guard, but Gabriel would not leave her alone in the house without one. Especially since the families of the vanished tended to go missing as well. But Aidan had assured him that no harm would come to Evangeline. They had agreed to use Gabriel's house as it was the largest and the most central to the area being searched.

He desperately wanted to find the young man. The grief on young Ruth's face haunted him. Gabriel actually volunteered to go out looking so he could escape her grief. The emotions pulled at him in a place that was locked up a long time ago. The only person who could get under or over that wall was Evie, and even then, it took time to distance himself from them.

Gabriel and Hensley were just on the edge of the park when some bushes rustled to their right. Hensley tensed and Gabriel was ready to pounce when a beautiful vision in lavender appeared. Hensley growled low in his throat but Gabriel told him to calm down. "It's alright, Hensley. It is the Lady Belcourt."

The lady looked particularly pained to see them. Her eyes darted quickly between the both of them and he noticed her gauging the distance across the park and to civilization. He knew vampires were fast, though he never had cause to chase one before. He wondered just how long it would take to catch her if she did decide to run. Then he had to wonder just why in the world the idea of chasing her pleased him so much. "Out hunting, I presume?" he asked in what he hoped was a sardonic tone.

One of her blond elegant eyebrows rose up in query. "As a matter of fact, I am," she answered in a husky tone that caused the hairs on the nape of his neck to rise. He rolled the tension out of his shoulders and pasted a cool smile on his lips.

"Poor chap," he murmured sarcastically. "To be dragged in the trees and drained."

Her eyes flashed hot with rage and he saw her vampire teeth, two needle thin bones really, appear. "Believe it or not, _dog_," she spat at him, "I don't always feed on humans and nor do I drain them."

Hensley growled again deep in his throat. Gabe noticed the strain in his large friend as he shivered with the want to change and attack. Understandably so, the large brute hated vampires. "Hensley," he said in a calm voice that belied the frustration he was feeling. "Why don't you go and check on Aidan and the others?"

The large mountain of a man looked at him with incredulous dark eyes. "And leave you with the vampire?"

"The Lady won't attack me," Gabriel said confidently.

She chuckled softly. "I would not bet on that if I were you." Gabriel just merely smiled in response.

Hensley looked uncertain but finally moved off in the distance towards Aidan and the others. Gabriel's smile dropped. "I would like to extend my apologies."

Camille picked up her skirts and started walking across the park. "I really don't care for your apologies."

"Be that as it may," Gabriel warned in a low voice as he wrapped his large hand around her arm and turned her to face him, "I have some questions I would ask of you."

Her head reared back so that she could look him in the eyes. She was a tiny thing compared to his frame. It would be wise to remember that however tiny she was, she was twenty times stronger than a normal woman. "Please remove your hand before I remove it for you," she said in a light but warning tone.

His eyes narrowed on her face. "You've got a bit of blood on the corner of your mouth."

Her eyes widened in horror and she raised a black gloved hand to remove the evidence of her feeding. "You and your friend interrupted me." He dragged her towards the trees. "Just what do you think you are doing?" she demanded in a shrill voice.

Gabriel didn't pay her any mind as he continued to drag her into the trees. He stopped short of the site in front of him. He had expected to see some poor soul dying in the underbrush. What he found was a deer lapping at some wounds. "It's alive," he said in wonder. The deer, startled by the presence of another predator, rose to his legs and galloped off into the woods.

"Of course it is alive," she muttered as she wrenched her arm free. "Just because I am a vampire doesn't mean I am a monster."

"Then why are your people kidnapping and torturing us?" he demanded harshly. What bit of moonlight could be seen from the half moon danced across his visage. His eyes were glittering and harsh emeralds in the dark night. He was angry. Why on earth did she have to be beautiful and wise? Why could she not be like the other vampires he had met?

Her head snapped back as if she had been slapped. "_My_ people? You mean vampires? I will admit there are those out there that delight in causing pain, but there are many a werewolf who would as well."

He raked a hand through his hair and turned from her in frustration. "Don't argue semantics with me, woman. I need to know where my people are."

"And what makes you think I would know?" she asked coldly from behind him.

"Because you are a vampire. And you were with _him_!" he growled at her.

"With who exactly?" she asked in a tone that suggested he could eat dung.

He turned around and pierced her with those green orbs again. "De Quincey," he spat out.

Camille started to laugh. If he wasn't so angry, he would have thought her mirth was exquisite. "Alexei? You think he is behind your dognappings?"

"No," he told her between clenched teeth. "I _know_ he is behind them. Hensley was tortured by him."

That stopped her laughing and her eyes turned away in the direction that Hensley had loped off to. "Someone tortured that big brute and got away unscathed? I find that hard to believe."

"Believe what you will. I saw him afterwards."

She looked deep into his eyes and he felt the brush of her gaze upon his soul. Something she saw there caused her eyes to widen. Suddenly, her shoulders that were taunt slumped a little. "I was afraid of this."

"Afraid of what exactly? That I would try and smear the beloved name of your lead vampire?" he lashed out.

She shook her head and some of the curls fell from their pins underneath the black hat she wore. "No," she said in a soft voice. "I was afraid there was something nefarious going on. When vampires live like that, like they do here, so close together, they start sporting around for entertainment that isn't morally right."

"Well, you lot are soulless," Gabriel said harshly.

His voice was like a whip. Her eyes looked at him from beneath the rim of her hat and pinned him with a stare that caused ice to form in his soul. "Just like you lot are nothing but a raging pack of animals? What a cynical and hypercritical man you are, Gabriel Eaton." She turned on her heel to stalk away from him.

"Wait, Camille," he said in a rush as he ran behind her and thought he rather liked saying her name. She paused when she heard it. He caught up to her. "It seems as if I am forever falling over myself to apologize to you."

He saw a tremble of a smile on her lips as she turned just slightly to look at him in profile. "I can't say that I'm not surprised each time you do."

He walked closer to her to where he was just a hair's width of a distance away from her. Up close, he can detect a light smell of lavender that she must have dabbed on as vampires have no smell. Her hair glistened in the moonlight. Her chest did not rise or fall and she looked like a living statue of Venus. "There's just something about you," he murmured.

At this, her full lips turned upward in a smile that started from one corner of her mouth and traveled ever so slowly to the other side. "You sound awfully close to giving me a compliment, werewolf." Humor and warning were dancing simultaneously in her pale green eyes.

"Perhaps, vampire," he said softly as he just stared at her. His eyes were warm and she heard a little warning voice in her head shouting _danger_.

"Well, I must go. I hope you find your friend," she said quickly and turned away again to leave.

She heard his footsteps as he fell into step beside her. "Can't you help us?" he asked.

Camille froze and looked up at him with wide eyes. "Help you find the werewolf? I thought I just told you that I would have no idea as to where he would be." Her voice had gone back to cold formality.

Gabriel mentally took a step away from her to distance himself from the puzzling effect she had upon him. "Are you not ashamed of what the members of your clan are doing?"

Her wide eyes narrowed to slits and she poked a tiny, but strong, finger in his chest that had him moving back a foot. "First of all, _dog_, you don't have the proof showing it was any of my clan. There are other vampires in London and those who do not socialize with the main clan. And secondly," she said as she took another step closer to him and her needle thin teeth appeared, "Even though your claim might have some merit behind it, don't think for one moment I would want to get involved in the political affairs of a mindless feud."

Now Gabriel's temper sparked. His hand locked around her icy one and moved it away from his chest though he didn't let it go. "First of all_, bloodsucker_," he sneered the insult at her. "You can stop calling me a dog. Secondly, this is a not a political affair or a mindless feud. We," he emphasized pointing to himself, "didn't start this. And now a young man is missing leaving behind a frightened young wife and child."

She wrenched her hand free from him and started to run lightly towards civilization, "Whatever it is you believe, werewolf," she called out as she distanced herself further from him. "It is none of my affair. Good luck to you and your quest."

In another second, she was gone and leaving him alone standing in the middle of the park with leaves dancing in the breeze. He swore and turned back in the direction Hensley had lumbered off towards. He didn't know what the hell he was thinking that she would help. She was a vampire. He needed to beat that thought more firmly into his head before he did something really stupid.

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**A/N:** _Hello my dears! I am so, so, so, so sorry for the long wait. I had some work issues going on and I had most of the chapter written, but it wasn't good enough to post and you guys deserve the best. Major thanks goes to Medea Smyke for proof reading and giving me a thumbs up! I will try, but I can't promise to have something out before the holidays. If I don't, I hope you all have a wonderful and safe holiday season!_


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